William “Bill” Cleary got his start with Life Celebration by Givnish in 1975.

An East Oak Lane native, Cleary has served as Life Celebration by Givnish’s Vice President of Operations since 2007 and has known the Givnish family since he was 11 years old.

“That’s how I got into the business. I was doing electrical work after high school, and business dried up in the 1970s. That’s when I met John Givnish, Jr.’s dad. He asked me to wash funeral cars.”

Aside from an eight-year stint in the 1980s, he’s been with the Givnish family business ever since.

An Abington resident for over 40 years, Cleary relocated to Lancaster in 1999 to help with operations in that area, returning to take on his current role. His office is located at Craft-Givnish Funeral Home in Abington Township, but he works with each of the 15 Life Celebration by Givinish locations.

Cleary, 69, is a licensed funeral director. He assists with arrangements, handles all of the company’s merchandising and price lists, and deals with questions from directors involving protocol.

“We deal with families who are experiencing the worst day of their lives. We work with them to create that life celebration,” he said. “It’s important that the family has a lot of input into what we do. I get satisfaction out of helping those people. I enjoy helping them navigate through that difficult time.”

He said that one of his most vivid memories is the all-hands-on-deck approach to arranging police funerals, some of which can draw thousands of people.

“You’re doing services like those not with just the family and their preferences, but with the police department and their protocols. You get out of state agencies involved as well,” Cleary said. “With larger events, we have the staffing to have a lot of funeral directors working to make sure everything goes smoothly. Every funeral we do is unique for that family.”

Cleary is a proud parent of four graduates of the former Bishop McDevitt High School in Wyncote/Cheltenham Township. He has nine grandchildren.

“My youngest lives in Glenside, and my youngest son lives in Abington and is a member of St. Luke’s, as is my youngest daughter,” he said, noting that he coached CYO baseball and Bishop McDevitt’s hockey team in the late 1990s.

For more on the Freed-Givnish Life Celebration Home, you can visit their website. You can also read our previous stories about John R. Freed, Jr., supervisor, Paul Nolan, director of operations and support, Shauna Donnelly, office manager, Bob Wustner, Funeral Director in Residence, Maddie Sydlowski, funeral director, and Christina Manero, funeral director.

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